Savvy studio guitarists are hip to an old but rarely used electric guitar recording technique: capturing the acoustic sound of the instrument while simultaneously recording through an amp. We'll begin with the “traditional" approach, and then take it to other places, including ones where the sun don't shine.
But first: Why fuss with two mics when a miked amp sounds awesome on its own?
When Bright Bite is Right
Acoustic miking expands the electric guitar's frequency range. Amps and speakers siphon off highs—everything above 5 kHz or so. Your guitar produces overtones an octave or two higher, though you seldom hear them.
Sometimes aggressive high-end sizzle is exactly what a guitar needs to cut through a mix.
Usually we don't want those highs. They're not present in most electric guitar sounds we know and love. Also, electric guitar's limited frequency range is generally a blessing at mix time, leaving the top end free for voice, cymbals, piano, or anything else with lots of high-end action.
But sometimes, aggressive high-end sizzle is exactly what a guitar needs to cut through a mix. It can add mass and impact, especially on recordings with sparse instrumentation (one guitar and drums, for example). Also, dual signals permit processing tricks that can yield unique, hypnotic, and generally bitchin' tones.
Outside Looking In
Most players who use this technique simply aim a mic at the guitar's body. (Audition locations by monitoring through headphones, playing as you shift the mic around.) Ex. 1 features a Trussart Steelcaster, whose metal body generates odd rattles and resonance (Photo 1).
Ex. 1
First you hear the mic alone (an Ear Trumpet Edna, a small-diaphragm condenser), and then the same signal mixed with an amp sound. I used amp simulators for the non-miked tones in all these examples—specifically, Amp Designer from Apple's Logic Pro. [Disclosure:I'm a Logic developer.] If you use analog amps, it's best to isolate them. Amp bleed through the acoustic mic can produce unpleasant phase cancellation.
The miked tone is thin and brittle—but dig how it adds edge when blended with the darker amp sound. (It's a weird tone, but weird is good.) I applied contrasting processing to the two tracks: The amp sound has heavy tremolo and a hint of plate reverb. The mic has no trem, but heavy vibrato. The two parts are slightly panned, and there's compression and EQ on the master bus where the two parts meet.
Photo 2 (left) and photo 3 (right)
Let's go deeper—literally! For the remaining examples, I used a tiny lavalier mic like broadcasters clip to their lapels. Mine is a nice Shure SM93 (Photo 2), but you can get cool results with ultra-cheap lav mics—a hi-fi effect, this ain't. For Ex. 2, I inserted the mic through the diamond soundhole on a Gibson Trini Lopez (Photo 3). Again, you hear mic first, then mic and amp simulation together.
Ex. 2
It sounds surreal. There's reverb on the mic signal, while the faux-amps are bone-dry. Since low notes disproportionately drive the amp, low chords seem to come from the sides, while the center-panned mic signal predominates when low notes are absent. There's no panning automation, yet the sound seems to oscillate between the center and sides. The "not found in nature" dirty/clean blend adds more weirdness. You know how fat distorted tones can vanish in a mix? This composite won't.
Take It to the Bridge
Photo 4
Another place only lav mics can go is beneath bridge hardware. For Ex. 3 I slid the mic under the metal hardware of the Trini's tailpiece, securing it with tape (Photo 4). (Use painter's tape, which leaves no sticky residue.)
Ex. 3
Yow—that vibrating metal is super-bright! Yet it sounds cool combined with two amp simulators panned left and right. The right-channel amp has delay, also panned right, while the other amp is dry. The mic sound is panned center, but its delay is panned hard left, opposite the amp delay. It's a compelling sonic soup.
Photo 5
A Bigsby tailpiece sounds quite different. For Ex. 4 I switched to a homemade Bigsby-equipped "parts" guitar, aiming the mic toward the strings behind the tension bar (Photo 5).
Ex. 4
Here the mic tone meshes nicely with a pawnshop combo simulation. I've processed the amp tone with stereo chorus/vibrato (from Universal Audio's Boss CE-1 plug-in) for a fun "rubber band" tone. The mic adds a hard percussive edge to a rather soft amp sound.
Nuts to You
Photo 6
For Ex. 5 I inserted the lav mic under the strings behind the nut (Photo 6). It was a tight fit on this guitar—some strings lightly touch the mic, creating a hard thwap that reminds me of an aggressively plucked upright bass (minus any actual bass frequencies).
Ex. 5
For the composite sound, I sent the mic signal to a short plate reverb, choosing the pre-fader send option so the reverb overshadows the dry signal. The amp tone is warm and dry. Result: a clip-clopping, horse's hooves effect. Both mic and amp are panned dead center, but the mic's reverb provides stereo animation. Only the highest highs get reverb—another surreal effect.
Sounds like these aren't for all occasions—god forbid! But the extended treble and snappy attack of mic tones sometimes add welcome edge, animation, and just plain weirdness. These composite sounds won't disappear in a mix—or a listener's memory.
[Updated 10/11/21]
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There are plenty of mighty American rock bands, but relatively few have had as profound an impact on the international musical landscape as X. Along with other select members of punk’s original Class of 1977, including Patti Smith, Richard Hell, and Talking Heads, the Los Angeles-based outfit proved that rock ’n’ roll could be stripped to its bones and still be as literate and allusive as the best work of the songwriters who emerged during the previous decade and were swept up in the corporate-rock tidal wave that punk rebelled against. X’s first three albums–Los Angles, Wild Gift, and Under the Big Black Sun-were a beautiful and provocative foundation, and rocked like Mt. Rushmore.
Last year, X released a new album, Smoke & Fiction, and, after declaring it would be their last, embarked on what was billed as a goodbye tour, seemingly putting a bow on 47 years of their creative journey. But when PG caught up with X at Memphis’s Minglewood Hall in late fall, vocalist and bassist John Doe let us in on a secret: They are going to continue playing select dates and the occasional mini-tour, and will be part of the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas in April 12.
Not-so-secret is that they still rock like Mt. Rushmore, and that the work of all four of the founders–bassist, singer, and songwriter Doe, vocalist and songwriter Exene Cervenka, guitarist Billy Zoom, and drummer D.J. Bonebreak–remains inspired.
Onstage at Minglewood Hall, Doe talked a bit about his lead role in the film-festival-award-winning 2022 remake of the film noir classic D.O.A. But most important, he and Zoom let us in on their minimalist sonic secrets.Brought to you by D’Addario.
Gretsch A Sketch
Since X’s earliest days, Billy Zoom has played Gretsches. In the beginning, it was a Silver Jet, but in recent years he’s preferred the hollowbody G6122T-59 Vintage Select Chet Atkins Country Gentleman. This example roars a little more thanks to the Kent Armstrong P-90 in the neck and a Seymour Duncan DeArmond-style pickup in the bridge. Zoom, who is an electronics wiz, also did some custom wiring and has locking tuners on the guitar.
More DeArmond
Zoom’s sole effect is this vintage DeArmond 602 volume pedal. It helps him reign in the feedback that occasionally comes soaring in, since he stations himself right in front of his amp during shows.
It's a Zoom!
Zoom’s experience with electronics began as a kid, when he began building items from the famed Heath Kit series and made his own CB radio. And since he’s a guitarist, building amps seemed inevitable. This 1x12 was crafted at the request of G&L Guitars, but never came to market. It is switchable between 10 and 30 watts and sports a single Celestion Vintage 30.
Tube Time!
The tube array includes two EL84, 12AX7s in the preamp stage, and a single 12AT7. The rightmost input is for a reverb/tremolo footswitch.
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Big Black Sun
Besides 3-band EQ, reverb, and tremolo, Zoom’s custom wiring allows for a mid-boost that pumps up to 14 dB. Not content with 11, it starts there and goes to 20.
Baby Blue
This amp is also a Zoom creation, with just a tone and volume control (the latter with a low boost). It also relies on 12AX7s and EL84s.
Big Bottom
Here is John Doe’s rig in full: Ampeg and Fender basses, with his simple stack between them. The red head atop his cabs is a rare bird: an Amber Light Walter Woods from the 1970s. These amps are legendary among bass players for their full tone, and especially good for upright bass and eccentric instruments like Doe’s scroll-head Ampeg. “I think they were the first small, solid-state bass amps ever,” Doe offers. They have channels designated for electric and upright basses (Doe says he uses the upright channel, for a mid-dier tone), plus volume, treble, bass, and master volume controls. One of the switches puts the signal out of phase, but he’s not sure what the others do. Then, there’s a Genzler cab with two 12" speakers and four horns, and an Ampeg 4x10.
Scared Scroll
Here’s the headstock of that Ampeg scroll bass, an artifact of the ’60s with a microphone pickup. Doe seems to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this instrument, which has open tuners and through-body f-style holes on its right and left sides. “The interesting thing,” he says, “is that you cannot have any treble on the pickup. If you do, it sounds like shit. With a pick, you can sort of get away with it.” So he mostly rolls off all the treble to shake the earth.
Jazz Bass II
This is the second Fender Jazz Bass that Doe has owned. He bought his first from a friend in Baltimore for $150, and used it to write and record most of X’s early albums. That one no longer leaves home. But this touring instrument came from the Guitar Castle in Salem, Oregon, and was painted to recreate the vintage vibe of Doe’s historic bass.
Reader: T. Moody
Hometown: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Guitar: The Green Snake
Reader T. Moody turned this Yamaha Pacifica body into a reptilian rocker.
I have always loved the reverse headstock, simply because nothing says 1987 (the best year in the history of the world) like a reverse headstock. The pickups are both Seymour Duncan—an SH-1N in the neck position and TB-4 in the bridge, both in a very cool lime green color. Right when these pickups got listed, the Buy It Now button once again lit up like the Fourth of July. I am a loyal disciple of Sperzel locking tuners and think Bob Sperzel was a pure genius, so I knew those were going on this project even before I started on it. I also knew that I wanted a Vega-Trem; those units are absolutely amazing.
When the body arrived, I thought it would be cool to do some kind of burst around the yellow so I went with a neon green. It turned out better than I imagined. Next up was the shaping and cutting of the pickguard. I had this crocodile-type, faux-leather material that I glued on the pickguard and then shaped to my liking. I wanted just a single volume control and no tone knob, because, like King Edward (Van Halen) once said, “Your volume is your tone.”
T. Moody
I then shaped and glued the faux-leather material in the cavity. The tuning knobs, volume knob, pickguard, screws, and selector switch were also painted in the lemon-lime paint scheme. I put everything together, installed the pickups, strung it up, set it up, plugged it in, and I was blown away. I think this is the best-playing and -sounding guitar I have ever tried.
The only thing missing was the center piece and strap. The latter was easy because DiMarzio makes their ClipLock in neon green. The center piece was more difficult because originally, I was thinking that some kind of gator-style decoration would be cool. In the end, I went with a green snake, because crocodiles ain’t too flexible—and they’re way too big to fit in a pickup cavity!
The Green Snake’s back is just as striking as the front.
